Communist Party calls for unity in mass uprising

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 14:53 Ko Wild

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Communist Party of Burma (CPB) has given notice of its desire to hold closed-door meetings with other organizations in order to formulate a common agenda for the post-election period.

In a statement issued on the 18th of this month, the CPB said it is interested in formulating a Minimum Common Programme (MCP) for the country following the November 7 polling.

The CPB, which does not accept junta efforts at ensuring victory for its chosen political debutante, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), declared the objective of the strategy as building up the base of People Power.

Rival political parties allege the USDP unfairly benefits from financial and political patronage offered by the country’s ruling military.

In the statement, the CPB suggests the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) should establish a Provisional Government when the people’s movement breaks out. The NLD emerged victorious from the country’s last general election twenty years previously.

“The first thing we should do is to strive for a great movement supported by the people. It will fail if not supported by the people. We must build our forces in both underground and over-ground forms and fight against them [the junta] in these forms,” CPB spokesman Comrade Po Than Joung said.

However, CRPP General Secretary Aye Thar Aung cautioned the installation of a Provisional Government was still premature, though he reiterated they would uphold the people’s mandate given them by virtue of their 1990 electoral victory.

The CRPP does not recognize the upcoming election, believing it will not lead to a democratic system for the country and will fail to bring about national reconciliation.

Aye Thar Aung added that the CRPP would, with the guidance of the NLD, continue its struggle to resolve the contradictions between Burmese military authorities, ethnic forces and the international community.

“In this struggle we will join hands with the people. The people are facing severe daily hardships in their livelihood, so they will not keep silent for long. They will certainly join the opposition movement,” Aye Thar Aung said.

The NLD, meanwhile, is continuing field trips to townships, divisions and states in order to consolidate its movement with the general population and other pro-democracy forces.

The CPB’s MCP claims negotiations and discussions with Burma’s current military rulers will be a fruitless effort. Therefore, reform minded officers among the armed forces must be targeted and organized as negotiation partners. However, further details as to the implementation of the strategy were not available, said Po Than Joung.

He also clarified, “This movement has nothing to do with 2010 election.”

Nonetheless, a representative from the Democratic Party (Myanmar), which will take part in the election, said they do not agree with the notion of boycotting the election and striving for a people’s movement.

“We must act in our own belief. Even after the election, we will continue our own movement in the parliament because there is still a long, long way to democracy,” party chairman Thu Wei said.

There are 330 seats to be contested in the People’s Parliament (Lower House), 168 seats in the National Parliament (Upper House) and 689 seats for Local Assemblies in Regions and States – a total of 1,187 seats up for grabs on November 7.